Chapter 11
Logan woke early the next morning just as the sky turned pink.
Stretching, then rubbing the sleep dust from his eyes, he smiled as he thought of the music he heard the night before.
Looking outside, he saw it was early dawn and that’s when it hit him he’d slept through dinner time and the rest of the night without waking up once.
Closing his eyes again and relishing the feeling of total relaxation, he checked on his wolf, happy to see him still asleep.
It was nice not to fight him, but it was puzzling, since his wolf had been so restless and agitated.
It was one of the reasons he’d gotten so little rest for the past two weeks.
Deciding to take advantage of his snoozing wolf, Logan turned over, and fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
~/~/~/~/~
It had become a habit since arriving here—watching the sky become a very pale pink then to a deeper rose until the first rays of the sun peeked over the mountaintop turning the sky to blue.
Kieran vowed never to take a sunrise for granted again especially when the years in Arald’s cage prevented him from seeing one.
Standing naked at the window, Kieran sent his spirit to check on Logan, hoping his mate had slept better.
In the meantime, he was tugging on his cock, relishing the feeling it was giving him.
A mate! A Fated Mate! How lucky can I be!
He never believed the Fates would ever give him one after they had forsaken him—or at least that’s how he viewed it when they allowed him to be sold into slavery.
Now it appeared he’d been forgiven for whatever wrong he’d committed and for that, he was thankful.
As his spirit rejoined him and reported on his mate, Kieran smiled when he learned Logan had gone back to sleep.
From now on, Logan wouldn’t suffer any symptoms shifters would normally feel when they found their mate.
He had taken care of that with the songs he’d sung to him last night and it would last until their claiming.
Yet, how to proceed? That was the question on his mind while he’d lain in bed picturing his mate’s dark, brown hair, sharp, well-defined cheekbones, full lips and the sexy scruff on Logan’s handsome face.
Kieran knew Logan was Jackson’s twin, but they weren’t identical as Cody, Colton, and Carson were.
No, his mate was taller and more heavily muscled than Jackson, but what really set him apart was his deep-set, gold-green eyes, giving him a sexy, brooding look.
Sighing, his mind was filled with an image of Logan’s cock in him, pounding away—definitely something to look forward to.
But first, he had to set his plan in motion.
Giving his cock one more tug, he headed to the shower, so he’d be ready when Theo and Norm came to pick him up for breakfast.
~/~/~/~/~
Josiah’s phone was ringing as he entered his office. Taking it out of his pocket and shutting the door behind him, he walked over to his desk. Hitting the button, he said “Hello?”
“Alpha Silver Point, please.”
“Speaking, who is this?” Josiah growled.
“Wolfgrim Morris of the Universal Paranormal High Council. I’m informing you Alpha Blackwood has been served with your complaint. They have sixty days to answer and when they do, I will forward a copy of it to you.”
“Did you tell Alpha Blackwood what happens if he harms me or my pack members?”
“Yes, he has received notice. Good bye Alpha Silver Point.”
Josiah ended the call and sat down. Well, nephew, how do you like the size of my balls? Thought you had me, did you? Stupid Pup! You won’t get out of this one so easily. Now for the ultimate ‘fuck you’. He hit a button on his phone and waited for the call to connect to Rudy.
“Rudy here.”
“They’ve been served. Make sure you’re ready.”
“Everything’s in place.”
“Good.”
~/~/~/~/~
The music was playing once again as Logan woke up. Listening to it he could feel it wrap itself around his heart. Content and relaxed, he lazed on the sofa, thinking about nothing at all while his world fell into place. No more anxiety, tension, worry—all gone as if they’d never existed.
He felt reborn and reenergized, ready to finish all the work waiting for his design genius—to give his nephew and niece a nursery worthy of the journey they’d made, and another for a prince—or princess—as the case might be.
He wanted to look at the ancient artifacts Ian received when he mated with Colton because an idea was forming in his head about using them.
Then, there was the design that was driving him nuts—Cody’s home for gay boys.
No matter what changes he made, it just wasn’t right, but he was determined to make it perfect.
When Cody and Dylon approached him initially with their idea, he was so fucking proud of his brother, and touched that they wanted him to do the design.
As he drew up the first set of plans, he cried all through it, thinking about the boys who would be living there after being rejected by their parents.
That’s why it had to be right—it had to feel like a home—a home filled with love, so the boys’ souls could recover from the worst thing that could ever happen to a child—feeling unwanted by parents they trusted.
But every time he tried to draw a home he ended up with a dormitory—hardly helpful in erasing bad memories.
Logan was determined to get it right and after a great night’s sleep, he felt he would have the ‘ah ha’ moment today, signaling the breakthrough he needed to do justice to Cody’s dream.
After those major jobs, he still had to redesign Dakota’s kitchen, the great room, Cody and Dylon’s suite and Colton and Ian’s suite.
Thinking back to the days after the massacre, Logan was sure he would never have another design job again while they hid from their uncle and his attempts to kill him and his brothers.
His twin knew how upset Logan was when he was forced to give up his schooling.
He’d been only a year away from an Interior Design degree, but that dream was tossed to the winds when they were forced into hiding.
Chuckling to himself, he remembered how upset he’d been about Jackson finding his Fated Mate.
So afraid Jackson would leave him, as had happened for a summer when they were young.
Logan had mixed feelings about Steel for a while, but in the end, his brother was happier than he had ever seen him, and Logan ended up with a nephew and more design jobs than he could ever have believed possible.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts and after fishing it from his pocket and looking to see who was calling him this early, Logan answered. “Hello bro, how’s Daniel?”
“Good morning to you, too. Daniel’s doing fine which you would know if you came down from your design tower.”
Logan grinned. “Design tower? Really?”
“What do you call it?”
“Uhmm…my design studio?”
“Well, I guess that’ll work. Listen, the reason I’m calling is to let you know I’ll be calling a pack meeting after breakfast today and I want you there.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Josiah filed a complaint against us claiming we killed our parents and everyone else in the…”
Logan sat up. “That fucking asshole. Of course, I’ll be there.”
“Good, because I’m worried about how Zane will react, and I need him…well, his computer skills…to find the proof we were in Las Vegas at the time.”
“Got it. Do you want to meet first?”
“Good idea. After breakfast but before the meeting. Are you gonna come down or eat in your room?”
“I’ll be down. Tell Dakota. I’ll see you soon, I need to take a shower.
” Logan quickly ended the call and rose, intent on getting into the shower quickly.
Remembering Dakota’s instructions, he opened some windows to air out the place.
Checking his cock and wolf, Logan was glad to find both were behaving themselves this morning.
Even the thought of seeing Kieran had no effect on them which was most strange.
Could I have been sick? The more Logan thought about it the surer he was.
Certainly, if Kieran had been his Fated Mate, his symptoms would not disappear overnight…
Oh my gods, unless he died! Frozen in place, he considered the possibility but rejected it after seeing his wolf calmly grooming himself.
Logan shook his head at the ridiculous thought.
No, he isn’t my mate and I must talk to Ian to make sure I don’t have a relapse.
Jumping into the hot steaming water, he let it course over his body, enjoying the feeling of it.
Grabbing some shower gel, Logan lathered his body before rinsing off days of sweat and grime.
Turning the water off and grabbing a heated towel, he dried himself quickly as he thought about what to wear for Kieran…
ugh, not for Kieran…what to wear, period.
He had to stop thinking of Kieran this way because if Cody ever found out, there would be hell to pay.
Without thinking, he grabbed his skinny jeans that showed off his package nicely and a skin-tight t-shirt in a deep, dusty rose color.
Finger-combing his hair, Logan checked himself in the mirror and liked what he saw.
The shirt color emphasized his eyes and his rosy lips.
Picking up his phone and slipping it into a pocket, Logan grinned.
He was finally going to see Kieran again.
Slipping out of his room, Logan never realized his thoughts were all about the pink-loving twink.
~/~/~/~/~
Kieran was dressed in his signature pink, as he and Norman made their way to the great room.
Theo was helping out in the kitchen this morning and, as Norm explained, learning how to make Miss L’s signature Frittata.
Ki turned to Norm, “You haven’t said a word about your time with Carson.
What did you do? Did you like it? Or do you want to change, because we can ask Cody to assign you to someone else.
You don’t have to stay there, you know.”
Norm gave a little smile. “Are you going to laugh if I tell you I like it? I mean, it’s not like what Theo is doing…I mean, how amazing were his steaks last night? Right?”
Ki fell against Norm and gave him a push. “You know better than that. I want you to be happy no matter what you do. If Theo likes to cook, then I’m happy for him and the same goes for you. If you like business, then ditto.”
“I do,” Norm said shyly. “I was as surprised as you are, but it seems my mind is made for it. What about you and Zane?”
“Oh, my gods, I completely forgot. Zane and I rigged up a dance club for you, Theo and me to try out. I wanted to show you what I was talking about. Maybe after breakfast we can pop down there for a few minutes, so you can see it.”
“I don’t know, we haven’t danced before.”
“Oh, don’t worry, we’re gay and that means bumping and grinding is in our DNA. Once you watch Zane and me, you’ll pick it right up. Trust me, you’ll want Theo’s ass grinding against your junk as you dance until you can’t take it anymore and drag him off to bed.”
“Really? Do you think Theo will do it?” Norman asked as his eyes sparkled at the picture Kieran had painted.
“Do it? Honey, his ass will be glued to your cock until he forces you to put an end to his misery. This is Theo we’re talking about…remember? The one who swore to spend the next five years being fucked silly.”
Entering the great room, Kieran fell silent as his eyes found Logan sitting on the sofa playing with Daniel.
He gasped as he noticed what his mate was wearing.
Oh, my fucking gods, my favorite color! He felt Norm nudge him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the gorgeous man the Fates had decided was his.
Finally, Norman’s voice warned, “Ki, stop it. Someone will notice.”
Breaking off his stare, Ki turned away, looking for someone other than Logan. Then he saw Zane, sitting alone, looking rather dejected and he hurried over to his new friend. Sitting beside him, Kieran asked, “Yo, Zane? Any luck after I left yesterday?”
Glancing over at Kieran, Zane shook his head. “Not yet, but I’ll figure it out. One of my friends suggested I try a different algorithm that might be better suited for finding deep buried information, so I’ll start writing the program today. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.”
Kieran placed his hand on Zane’s leg. “I bet it won’t. Hey, I know, how about we do a betting pool? I’m picking 36 hours. Norm, want in?”
“Yeah, I don’t know much about this, so I’ll take 40 hours.”
“If you’re betting, I want in,” called Carson from across the room.
“Well, pick it!” said Kieran.
“What are we betting on?” Carson asked.
“How long it will take Zane to write a new program. I have 40 hours and Ki has 36. What do you want?” Norm asked.
“Fuck, if I know Zane, he has most of it written in his head already. 15 hours,” Carson answered.
Norm looked at Zane. “Is Carson right? You have most of it already written?”
Cody spoke up as he walked over with Jessica in his arms, “Of course he does. Zane writes the entire program in his head before putting it down on paper.”
“Holy shit!” Norm said, looking in awe at Zane.
“Ahh, Norman, you might want to cool the swearing,” said Dylon as he and Jake came to join them. “My mom has joined forces with Jackson and they’re intent on making sure it won’t be any of the pups’ first words,”
“Oops, thanks for the warning,” Norm said, “I don’t want her mad at me when we go to Scotland.”
Cody noticed Kieran’s hand on Zane’s leg and smiled, knowing it was there because Zane needed something this morning.
Logan discovered that while Kieran was in the room, he constantly knew his whereabouts.
Even when he was playing with Daniel, he still sensed every time Kieran moved and where he was in relation to himself.
Unable to resist, he glanced over and saw Kieran sitting next to Zane.
Logan’s eyes zeroed in on the hand resting on his brother’s leg—a hand that didn’t belong there and white-hot jealousy flashed through his body, leaving him breathless at the intensity of the emotion. Oh fuck!